[I’m going to toss in a few extra posts this week, in addition the usual reviews, with suggested gifts for readers. No kickbacks from the sellers. These are just gifts that I like and will help to support libraries or other friends of books. Jan]

Want to say thank-you to that hostess who always bakes her famous Irish Coffee Cheesecake for book-club meetings instead of picking up few packages of Milanos like everybody else? Consider giving her “The Reading Woman Boxed Notecards” set, which costs $14.95 at the online Library Shop at the New York Public Library www.libraryshop.org/notstat.html. It has twenty 5” x 7” blank notecards with five copies of each of four paintings of a woman reading, one of which you see here. The deadline for UPS ground shipments is Thursday, Dec. 13, but you might find the cards at another library or museum shop with a looser time frame.